


Stories from Behind the Reunion

by SugarandSpice (blackbirdscot)



Series: Sporty and Baby [1]
Category: Real Person Fiction, Spice Girls
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:47:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22191292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackbirdscot/pseuds/SugarandSpice
Summary: That Jonathan Ross interview was something wasn't it. Hmm. Issues? What issues?
Relationships: Melanie C/Emma Bunton
Series: Sporty and Baby [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1611826
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No timeline really, just different 'behind the scene' fiction because these two are something special.

**Jonathan Ross aftermath**

Emma smiled politely as she and other Spice Girls parted ways with Kyle Minogue, Geri giving the Aussie songstress an extended hug. She caught Melanie shake her head slightly and duck into their shared dressing room.

With little hesitation Emma left Geri and Mel B outside to follow after her friend.

Melanie glanced up as she collected her things into her bag and shrugged on her jacket. “You know, I knew she’d pull something tonight but that was bang out of order.”

Emma couldn't help but silently agree. She moved closer and put a hand on Melanie’s arm. “Jade’s already getting the car, we’ll drop you home.”

Melanie blew out a breath, she was more than ready to go, but she gave Emma a nod and waited for the blonde to pack her own things away.

She immediately regretted the decision to sit down on the couch at the side of the dressing table as Mel B and Geri entered the room.

Mel eyed the pair, she knew Melanie enough to tell she was still pissed from earlier. “Can you believe this bitch was trying to sell tickets to our Sunderland show by mentioning Vicky?” When Geri had replied to Jonathan’s question about when Victoria Beckham would be turning up to support the rest of the Spice Girls she genuinely thought Vicky had been in contact with Geri.

Before it had twigged that the location was the one with most tickets remaining. “Silly cow doesn’t get that this airs in a few day and the last tickets might have sold.” And why Victoria would go to a Sunderland gig and not the Wembley one will just leave viewers confused.

Geri rolled her eyes as she sat down and started touching up her make-up. “If we push the demand up maybe we could add another few shows.” The redhead explained.

Melanie stood and picked up her bag. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with this. “I’ll wait in the hallway, say goodbye to John.” She’d known John Bishop for years and she’d happily use him as an excuse to get out of this room without having a screaming match with her former bandmates.

“Don’t be like this Melanie,” Geri said as she turned her chair to face the younger woman. “We’ve all been invited out for drinks, please don’t spoil it.”

“Me spoil it?” Melanie asked as she moved back into the room instead of out the door as she’d intended. “Are you having a laugh?” Mel’s eyes widened and she shared a worried look with Emma, who was finished packing her personal belongings away.

“Yes, you wouldn’t even sing on the show.” Geri went on.

Emma winced as Mel B covered her eyes with her hand, both expecting an explosion following that comment. With narrowed eyes Melanie counted to ten in her head, she could tell she’d be ending the night with a headache but even as her hand clenched and unclenched at her side, she couldn’t just let that slide.

“You know damn well we all vowed never to sing any of those songs again, once we’d paid them off back when.” Melanie stated to Geri as she stepped closer to the older women. “We all know Mel has a sore throat, but out of all of the hits us three could have sung tonight, you picked one you knew, you knew Geri, that I’d never do it.”

There was no response to that but Geri couldn’t hold Melanie’s gaze any longer and turned to get back to finishing off her make-up.

“And it’s one hardly anyone would have heard either.” Mel B added.

Geri, with her back to most of them just shrugged her shoulders. “What does it matter now?” She then turned and eyed Mel. “Are you going dressed like that? And Emma, you’ll join us won’t you, Kylie said a few other’s would be joining her, I’m sure Jade could come along too.” They usually didn’t invite their significant others along when it was promotional work, but the redhead was already aware that Jade, Emma’s partner for forever, was already here.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Mel asked with a scowl as her phone buzzed with a text. She took a moment to read it. “Danielle’s in.” She said with a grin. “Ems?”

Emma shook her head, she wasn’t in a partying mood either, and while she hadn’t said it yet she was just as angry with Geri’s behaviour tonight as Melanie was. “I’m going home too.” She picked up her bag as she watched Melanie finally make her escape from the room.

Mel watched the other woman leave too. “Man I thought she was going to blow a fuse at you for that Ginge.” She muttered. “You got lucky.”

Geri snorted. “She needs to lighten up, we need all of these shows to sell out if we stand a chance of doing this again.”

“I guess.” Although Mel thought they had the fan base to sell out shows all over Europe and the States if they could all just agree on when and where without killing each other.

Emma paused at the door and turned back to face her friends. “Geri, don’t ever try bringing up my children in interviews or Melanie will be the least of your problems.”

Geri just stared without replying, but her silence said enough.

Mel watched Emma leave and let out a sigh. “This is way too much like damn hard work.”

Applying an extra layer of lipstick, Geri smiled at her reflection. “Forget about them, let’s have some fun tonight.” It wasn't every night that she had babysitters for her kids.

xxxxxx

“You want to stay at ours tonight, babe?” Emma asked as she sat in the back with Melanie as Jade drove them through the streets of north London. The other woman’s leg was bouncing from nerves and despite holding Melanie’s arm, and leaning against her, Emma could feel how ridged her posture still was.

“I don’t think I’d be good company.” Melanie finally answered in a quiet tone. But she was tempted, Scarlet was with her father and going home to an empty house in her current state probably wasn’t the best idea.

Jade snorted however.

“Jay.” Emma warned.

“What?” Jade asked, his eyes finding Emma’s in the rear view mirror. “Mel babe, you’re staying and that’s it.”

Melanie couldn’t help but let a smile grow. “Oh, am I?” She asked, finding it funny that Jade thought he could get her to do anything. “You gonna make me, or something?” She shared a proper smile with Emma now.

Jade snorted again. “Nah, I’ll just tell you Emma misses you like crazy-“

“Hey!” Emma protested despite her cheeks flaming red at the comment.

“-And the kids miss you.” Jade continued.

“Well, yeah, that’s true.” Emma added as she snuggled back against Melanie’s side, and gazed up at her with pleading eyes. Adding a pout for dramatic effect when she saw Melanie struggling to keep from laughing.

“You both play mean.” Melanie said with a shake of her head.

“Play to win you mean.” Jade replied, before finding Emma’s gaze again and winking at her. They both knew Melanie couldn’t resist now.

Melanie bit her lip then glanced down at Emma. “I thought we weren't going to do this for a while?” She said. “What will it look like if some idiot on a smart phone sees me leaving tomorrow?”

“Who gives a shit?” Jade answered for them all. He was tired of this whole dog and pony show that was ‘suggested’ to them in order to protect the public image of the Spice Girls in the next few months because of the interest on them generated by the upcoming tour.

Emma just smile to herself as she felt Melanie entwine their fingers together. If the other woman had insisted on going to her own home tonight Emma would have stayed with her. “The kids do miss you.” She added softly.

Melanie sighed, putting the matter with Geri out of her mind for now. There were more important things in life than the Spice Girls. “For the kids then.” She answered before pulling Emma’s hand up to her lips and kissing the back of it.

Jade rolled his eyes in the front seat. “Oh, get a room.” He muttered, but he was smiling too.

“We plan to.” Emma said cheekily causing Melanie to chuckle.

Jade smiled to himself as he continued driving. He fell silent and nudged the radio volume up. He was confident that Emma would be able to calm Melanie down or at least get her in a better frame of mind.

He’d watched from the so-called ‘green room’ and could see Melanie’s reaction to Geri trying to get them to sing that old song. One that had been given to them by their manager at the time and his team of writers. It had never been a Spice Girl’s song, so he understood Melanie’s refusal to sing it.

Given the tension when the video from 1994 was played Jade had to figure that part of the filming wouldn’t make it to air. He’d remind them both in the morning that they should get final approval before the show airs over the weekend.

He glanced at the pair in the back as he pulled up outside the home he shared with Emma and the two children they had together. His cousin was watching the kids inside for them while he drove Emma and Melanie around for promotional interviews that day.

He shook his head as he watched a more relaxed Melanie whispering to Emma as the younger woman rested her head on Melanie’s shoulder. “Okay, enough you two, were home. Get out or I’ll lock you both out tonight.” Jade told them as he exited the car.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Emma said as she hurried from the vehicle.

Melanie followed after them, more concerned with getting out of the suit she’d been wearing most of the day than taking Jade’s threat seriously. He knew better. “He’s just upset he’s sleeping alone tonight.” She muttered to Emma as she took her hand and walked after Jade who already had the front door open.

xxxxx

There might be a part 2 or 3 coming up…


	2. At home

As soon as all three were inside the house they heard the racing footsteps of Beau and Tate.

“Mummy!” Tate cried out as he raced up to Emma and threw his arms around her. 

“Oh, my gosh,” Emma said at the greeting. “What are you two still doing up?” She asked even as she lifted Tate into her arms for a proper hug.

Beau shrugged. “Tay wanted a story.” He admitted.

Jade rolled his eyes but picked Beau up, even though his was getting a little old for it, and started for the staircase. “Alright then, let’s do story time and then straight to bed.”

“Can’t Melanie read to us?” Tate asked Emma quietly as he cuddled into his mum.

Emma grinned over at Melanie. Then she raised an eyebrow knowing the other woman had overheard the request.

With a shake over her head Melanie reached over and took hold of Tate who happily switched positions.

“Sure can Tay.” Melanie told him as she pressed a kiss to the boys forehead. “I came over to see you and your brother anyway, so a bedtime story sounds perfect.” She added as she started to follow after Jade. The boys still shared a bedroom but maybe after Christmas Beau might start using the current playroom as his own bedroom.

But for now both boys were happy to share a room. And that made stories at bedtime easier.

Emma watched after her family leave then went over to Jade’s cousin who was watching from the other side of the living room. “Everything go okay?” Emma asked.

Stacey nodded. “Yeah, they’ve eaten and brushed their teeth, they just wanted to stay up long enough to say goodnight. They had another twenty minutes max and then I’d have put them to bed myself.”

Emma grinned. She knew how easy it was to give in to her boys. They got away with a lot and she didn’t even care that she gave in more than Jade did. She wanted her children happy, and that’s really all that mattered to her. “No harm done.”

“Well I’ll leave you to it.”

Emma waited for Stacey to grab her bag then showed her out, waiting in the doorway until Jade’s cousin had made it out of the driveway.

After Emma closed the door she couldn’t help but let out a sigh. It had been a hard day, they’d only done two interviews but Emma thought that maybe it had been one interview too many for Melanie.

Walking into the kitchen Emma quickly found a nice bottle of wine and poured herself a glass, leaving the bottle open on the counter Emma took her drink into the living room and found a comfortable spot on the couch as she found the remote for the radio and played some music.

As she drank her wine, Emma couldn’t help but worry what the fallout would be after this evening. Melanie had been so reluctant to reform the Spice Girls for so long, that it had even affected their relationship. Emma took most of the blame for their separation during that time. It had been the longest two months of her life, not speaking with Melanie.

Even Jade had quietly told her that Melanie was entitled to not want to go back there given what it had done to her emotionally. Emma, along with Victoria, had talked Melanie into the first reunion tour in 2007.

Two months of not seeing each other, of Jade taking the kids over to Melanie’s, or bring Scarlet here for the weekend. The kids had known something was wrong, and Scarlet had even asked if Emma had stopped loving her mum now, and the way her boys had looked at her. It had gone straight to her heart.

She’d started to cry in front of them before Jade had distracted them with pizza. But it had broken past Emma’s stubbornness and made her pick up the phone and apologise to Melanie for being so selfish. Melanie had accepted that with the grace she always did and had even come around to spend the evening with them all watching Disney movies together.

And not long after that Geri was pregnant and the hopes of a reunion had disappeared.

This time around Emma hadn’t pushed nearly as much.

Finishing off her glass of wine, Emma went back into the kitchen in search of the rest of the bottle. 

Sometime later, Jade took a seat across from her at the kitchen island.

“Is she okay?” Emma asked, worried that Melanie wasn’t with Jade.

Jade grinned. “Tay talked her into another story.” He informed her.

“Oh.” That was good. Better than the alternative.

“But I’m not sure if she’s okay.” He went on.

Emma sighed. She didn’t think Melanie was okay either. “I know, I’ll try and talk to her about it. I’m not sure talking is what she really needs though.” It could just set Melanie off more if they started to re-hash the events of today.

Jade smirked across at Emma. “Well if you can't get her to chill out, I'll drag her down to the gym tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Emma meant that. It wouldn’t be the first time Jade helped Melanie work things out by accompanying her to a workout session. The pair would never really talk about much but they’d push each other at the gym and for Melanie, that would give her the time to quiet her thoughts and allow her to rebalance without being there herself and getting lost in her head and push her body to its limits in an attempt to swap a mental workout for a physical one.

“No worries.” He’d known Melanie for as long as he’d known Emma. He might not be in the pap pictures but most of the times the girls went out he was there too. He supported both of them one hundred percent.

The fact that it was Emma and Melanie in a relationship and not he and Emma was something of an unspoken agreement that struck Jade as weird. He remembered even back to the last Spice Girls album after party. The two girls had danced the night away together, even in each other’s arms but it had been Melanie leaving to a barrage of nasty comments from the press that had made the news the following day.

Jade wasn’t sure what Melanie did to piss the press off so much back then other than not give them the time of day, but they had been brutal to her for over a year afterwards. They blamed Melanie on the Spice Girls splitting up. Not a single word about her eating disorder or her depression until later.

But by then the damage had been done.

Melanie had suffered with bouts of depression at different periods of her life after that. The most recent being late 2013 after she’d finished her stint treading the theatre in Jesus Christ Superstar. Thomas was mostly out of Melanie and Scarlet’s life and her solo career was in the balance. Melanie hadn’t been sure that spending more of her personal money for the studio time and album release would pay off after the limited success of The Sea.

Melanie had felt lost for the first time in her life and without Emma and to an extent Jade, she could have lost herself to her doubts and fears. But with Emma’s gently suggested Sporty’s Forty idea it had given her something to focus on without the fear of committing herself to the expense of new material.

Something for Melanie and her fans to enjoy.

It had worked wonders. The night had gone great, everyone had gone home happy and even Emma had gotten up on stage to sing with Melanie like old times.

And slowly it had led Melanie to taking her time, writing songs straight from her heart and when the time had been right she had gone into a studio and laid down the best vocals of her career to date. 

Version of Me. Melanie's seventh solo album.

Anyone with even a bit of background knowledge of what Melanie had gone through during the manic era when the Spice Girls exploded onto the music scene in 1996 would have been hard pressed not to read further into the lyrics of each song.

Personally Emma thought it was Melanie’s best work. Even better than her debut album Northern Star. It was just such an emotional piece of music that Emma wanted to wrap Melanie up in her arms every time she heard some of the songs. The pain behind those words was still fresh to Melanie. Writing them had been great therapy to her and for that Emma was eternally grateful, even if they evoked past memories and pulled at Emma’s heartstrings.

So Emma had reason to be concerned about the toll Melanie was paying for agreeing to go on another short tour with the girls again.

Yes they were all happy with another good pay day, but the 2007 tour was supposed to have been the goodbye for the fans.

It had been hard to convince Melanie to commit to that tour, it had taken both Emma and Victoria for that to happen. But going back to working with Simon again had been a mistake, so had spending so much time with the other girls. Melanie hadn’t been pleased that she was talked into expressing how happy she was to have Geri back with them. Victoria had tried to answer that question as little as possible at pressers. 

Eventually Melanie had accepted it, but she hated the acting up for the cameras that Simon wanted them all to do. It was only the fact that Geri would be paid whether she was there or not that made Melanie grin and bear it.

And Melanie had taken great pleasure that summer by standing up for Victoria when she had bowed out from going on the tour but happily signed the deal ensuring her share of the profits.

Geri and Mel B had chafed at that, but Melanie had quickly pointed out that Geri had still been paid after she fucked off mid tour back when. That had shut the pair up quickly enough and everything got signed off on the tour going ahead one Spice Girl down. But the core of them had performed like that before so it wasn’t as daunting a task as it could have been.

Still, Victoria would be missed.

Emma understood why her friend wanted to be done with the Spice Girl shows. Even the thought of performing for Harper wasn’t enough to change Victoria’s mind and Emma was at piece with that, so was Melanie.

Geri and Mel B however wanted a world tour and an all five piece would be in a higher demand for the fans and concert promoters but Emma was with Melanie and Victoria on this one, none of them wanted to be on the road again for that long no matter the money and reclaimed fame it would bring them.

As it was Emma was already witnessing Melanie struggle with the other girl’s antics during interviews. Much more of it and she could see their summer tour turning into a terrible experience. She didn’t want to see that happen but there was only so much that she could do, and right now Melanie’s mental health had to be her priority.

“Spending time with the boys will be good for her too.” Emma said to Jade who was heading back from getting a beer from the fridge.

“That or they’ll drive her back to therapy.” Jade commented with a chuckle as he sat down beside Emma.

“Oi, don’t be mean.” Emma replied, as she reached over and slapped Jade on the arm.

Just then Melanie wandered into the kitchen, she’d changed into a pair of sweat pants and a light t-shirt. “He’s probably right though.” She said, letting the pair know she’d heard the last part of the conversation. 

Melanie saw the worried look in Emma’s eyes as she watched her closely. Melanie winked at Jade then moved behind Emma to pull her into a hug. “It’s fine though, I was planning to call Elizabeth in the morning if I need to.”

Elizabeth was her therapist and had been since Scarlet had been born. Melanie wasn’t ashamed to admit that she wasn't as hardened to the negativity she had suffered from as the public and press might think she was. Yes she lived relatively under the radar, she wasn’t hounded by the tabloid press every day, or falling down drunk every weekend, or appearing on every A to Z lister TV show that offered her a six or seven figure pay day.

Scarlet had really change that for her. Melanie’s focus was making sure her daughter had the quality of life she should have. Melanie didn’t want her child to go through what she saw Victoria’s children go through just on a day to day basis. It was ridiculous to her that Brooklyn was followed all the time and had his picture taken so much.

So a quiet life is what she wanted, she had her solo career and a solid fan base that let her still get her music out and perform gigs around her daughters educational needs.

But she still worried.

And she worried for Tate. It wasn’t spoken about and Melanie let Jade and Emma take the lead on that, the boy was still young so he had a lot of growing and maturing still to do. But it was easy to see he was different. Definitely not into sports the way Beau was and he was such a mummies boy, so they were all letting him develop in an open and loving environment.

Emma closed her eyes as she leaned back against Melanie, her hand coming up to cover Melanie’s arm that rested across her chest as Melanie swayed them gently in place.

“I was telling Ems that I’d be your gym buddy in the morning if you wanted.” Jade said softly. 

Melanie chuckled. “And leave the kids to Emma’s cooking?”

“Oi!”

Jade giggled at that. Emma really was getting better at cooking and breakfast was something she could hardly get wrong for the kids, cereal and some milk wasn’t exactly fine dining. “The kids will survive.”

“Yeah, but who’ll feed Emma?” Melanie joked before pressing a kiss to the blonde’s head before she could take too much offence.

Jade rolled his eyes as a dopey smile crossed Emma’s face. “Okay love birds I’m off to bed. Wake me up whenever if you want to hit the gym Mel.” He said as he tossed his empty beer can in the recycling bin in the corner of the kitchen before leaving the pair alone.

Melanie closed her eyes and just enjoyed the moment there alone with Emma in her arms. 

A short time later Emma found one of Melanie’s hands and brought it to her lips. “If you want to cancel the tour I’ll completely understand.” She said softly even though it would crush a part of her to never step on stage again as Baby Spice in front of thousands of fans. Melanie still got to perform regularly over the years but Emma’s own solo career wasn't a massive success, not by the standards they all set in the nineties.

Music was expensive and the industry just wasn’t the same as before. It was harder to navigate and they just didn't have the time to spend doing promotion for upcoming music that was really need in order for people to really buy into it. Instead Emma had found a career in presenting, whether in TV or radio. It was something she was good at and for the most part she enjoyed it, but she still missed the old days.

Melanie held Emma tighter from behind. “No way Em, the tour is going ahead and we will fucking rock it with the fans but I’m done with the dog and pony shows.” She told Emma. “I can’t sit there next to her and listen to her lie every time.”

Emma blew out a relieved breath.

“No more interviews, Mel’s heading back to the States anyway so if she wants to promote the shows she can drag you with her or she can do it herself, it’s what she mostly wants anyway.” Melanie went on.

Emma silently agree with parts of that. Geri had been pushing as much as Mel B for a reunion, especially now when the offers of a tour were being shown to them. Geri and Mel had it all planned out, first a few dates in the UK and then later the following year if the demand was high enough, dates in Europe and then North America and further afield. 

Emma wasn’t sure given the logistics with their children and wider families that they could all pull that sort of world tour off. But that didn’t stop some of them from insisting that it would happen.

The shows in the summer would prove that one way or the other and both Emma and Melanie weren’t willing to fight the two other girls on the viability of a world tour just yet.

Even Victoria had laughed that off when they had all met up to discuss the legalities and royalties involved in the summer gigs. Victoria was more than happy to take her cut and let the rest of them do as many show as they wanted to. “Have at it.” She’d told Geri at the time. And Geri had lit up like a Christmas tree, so had Mel even though she wanted Victoria to be part of it because it would be a bigger commercial success with all five of them. 

The 2007 reunion had proved that.

It was Melanie’s hard line stance that no tour, however long, would lead to any new music being recorded as a Spice Girls record. They’d only do the old hits, and with three albums and a couple of B-sides to choose from they had enough of a back catalogue to appease even their most die-hard fans.

Geri however didn’t want to limit any of their opportunities so early on when the public weren’t even aware they were considering a new tour.

Victoria had helped Melanie on that one by pointing out that the short lived GEM hadn’t got them any traction but if they wanted to bring out music as a three piece more power to them.

It had been a long tense meeting a Geri’s house but Melanie and Victoria had gotten what they wanted out of it, Victoria was out of it, Melanie was not going to be forced into singing any new Spice Girls material and they’d even use her own management company to arrange the tour.

And Emma had gotten what she had wanted, a chance to perform with her friends once again. She’d been dreaming about it since before the twentieth anniversary of Wannabe. She’d wanted it so much that she’d agreed to putting out something with just Geri and Mel B for that special occasion and maybe even performing in Hyde Park for a celebration.

It had put such a strain on her relationship with Melanie that she had almost been grateful when Geri had announced she was pregnant and it had fizzled to nothing. Luckily she’d already made up with Melanie before that so they’d worked it out between them and were both a little disappointed, because even though Melanie didn’t want to be part of it she fully supported Emma’s choice.

Emma’s relationship with all of the other girls had been easier than Melanie’s, and she’d never gotten the type of press that Melanie had got either. So there wasn’t any sort of negativity for her to want to sing with the other girls again.

Melanie understood that, and in the end it was the main reason she was doing the tour with them.

“I’ll survive two weeks on tour.” Melanie said, besides, Mel had been on her best behaviour ever since Melanie had agreed to it. She’d leave Geri to her to deal with, hell that’d just be like the old days anyway.

“Don’t forget the rehearsals.” Emma pointed out, only when Melanie let out a groan did she wince. “Sorry. But hey, we have Christmas to plan and birthdays, and we can forget all about it until well into next year.” Emma offered quickly.

“Nice save.” Melanie was impressed.

With a pleased look Emma got up and shifted out of Melanie’s hold. She pressed a kiss to the woman’s cheek then went over to put her wine glass at the sink.

“Do I get to take you to bed now?” Melanie asked as she leaned back against the kitchen island and watched the blonde.

Emma smiled and came back over, wrapping her arms around Melanie in a hug. “Will you sing for me?” She asked in a whisper, as she stared up into Melanie’s eyes.

Melanie could resist leaning down and pressing her lips to Emma’s. “Is this like some kind of weird foreplay?” She asked. “You only sleep with me for my voice, is that it?” She asked, smiling to herself as she watched Emma blush but the blonde didn’t squirm away or deny it. “What would you like me to sing for you babe?”

That made Emma step back, but she took hold of Melanie’s hand and started to lead her to the stair case. “Just a song.”

Melanie rolled her eyes but followed after Emma like a willing puppy. 

“An oldie but a goodie.” Emma went on, a cheeky smile edging onto her lips. “It goes a little like this – _Shine a light, we’re gonna make it happen_ -“ And with that she yelped and took off for their bedroom.

Melanie stood there in the hallway alone. “Oh, Emma, you are so going to pay for that.” She muttered to herself as she walked after her.


	3. Let go

“Look Geri, I’m telling you now really isn’t a good time.” Emma said into her mobile as she paced in the back garden of her home.

Jade and Melanie had been back from the gym for a few hours now and both of them had been in a good mood which Emma was pleased to note. Jade had only just taken the kids across the city to see his parents while Melanie was upstairs on a call with her therapist. The last thing Emma wanted right now was throwing Geri and Mel back into the mix.

“I don’t care if you think it’s important. I’m telling you now isn’t a good time for a god damn meeting.” She went on because it was clear Geri wasn’t paying any attention to her words. Emma wouldn't even be surprised if Geri was calling her and driving at the same time. “We can arrange something for after the weekend.” When her kids were back in school and she and Melanie had the free time to deal with seeing the other two again.

“Look we're not far away, it’ll be a quick visit.” And with that Geri cut off the call.

Emma stared at her phone is disbelief. “She actually hung up on me.” She shook her head then went back into the house. “She never bloody listens.”

If they were going to have visitors, even unwanted ones, Emma thought it best to at least put the kettle on. Melanie was going to need something stronger than tea if she had to put up with Geri and Mel so soon after last night.

The kettle had only just boiled when a knock came at the front door.

Emma got up and walked over, sparing a second to look at the staircase wondering how Melanie was getting on. The session wasn’t a scheduled one so Emma knew there were still issues Melanie wanted to talk over and vent about if she had to. Luckily Melanie’s therapist had been around long enough to be aware of what was currently going on and had made them both conscious that if Melanie needed to she was only a phone call away at any time.

But it was the fact that they were only into the first week of promoting the tour that was really concerning for Emma.

“Please, do come in.” Emma muttered as Mel and Geri passed by her into the living room.

Mel put her bag down then headed straight for the kitchen. “Oh god, I’m starving.”

Emma sighed and followed after her. “I just put the kettle on.”

“Great! A bacon butty.” Mel said as she found a packet of bacon rashers in the fridge. That would more than cover her craving for greasy food. “Ginge wouldn’t even give me time to have a coffee this morning.” She complained as she worked the stove top and threw in enough to cover the frying pan she found. “This is supposed to be our free day.” She grumbled. They hadn’t anything planned, so Geri had ruined her long lie in after their late night partying, not that Geri had been drinking much at the club they went to.

“I’ll make you some coffee.” Emma said as she went over to the kettle. 

“And that’s why you’re my favourite.” Mel said as she flashed a smirk in Geri’s direction as the older woman came in and sat at the counter.

Geri ignored Mel, she’d been complaining ever since she picked her up from her hotel. Instead she waited quietly until Mel had her coffee and her breakfast before she studied Emma.

“Look, I think we need to discuss how we’re going to approach this before we talk with Melanie.” Geri said in a soft tone.

Emma scowled. “Talk about what?”

“About how she behaved yesterday on the Jonathan Ross show.” Geri went on as if she was stating the obvious. “We have to present a united front Emma, and she wasn’t being a team player.”

Mel’s eyes widened when Emma turned to look at her. She took a large bite of her bacon sandwich just to buy herself time before she was dragged into this. She could have strangled Geri right now, she was making it sound like they both felt that way. Honestly, Mel had agreed with Melanie about not singing that old song, for a start it wasn’t one they had written despite Geri’s claim to the contrary, and her own throat wasn't up to a live performance without any warning. It would have been horrible.

Emma rested her head against her hand and stared back at Geri. She refused to even reply to that comment so she thought it best to just wait for Geri to be done with whatever it was she was going on about.

Geri smiled, pleased that Emma was considering her words. “What I think we should do for our next appearance is work out how to keep-“

“How about we work on your ability to tell the truth?” Emma cut in.

Geri frowned. “Pardon? I don’t know what you mean.”

Mel kept her eyes down and started chewing a little slower. She wasn’t getting pulled into this argument, no way.

Emma snorted. “You know we didn’t write that song. You also know Victoria won’t be at any of the shows, she’s already said that to all of us.”

“Yes well, Melanie changed her mind, Victoria can change hers.” Geri replied. 

“About that,”

Mel got up quickly. “I need the restroom.” She commented before grabbing her coffee mug and slipping out of the kitchen.

Watching their friend leave Geri was a little disappointed in Mel, she’d expected to have her as backup for this.

Emma paid little attention to Mel wandering off, she had more than enough reason to have a talk with Geri alone. “We all know you had nothing to do with Melanie changing her mind about this tour, so doing interviews and bragging about it with Melanie sat right there is pretty damn low even for you.”

Geri held up her hand. “I never actually said that if you recall Emma, darling.” She was quick to point out. She may have strongly hinted and alluded to her role in getting Melanie to finally agree to a Spice Girls reunion after years of her very public refusal. But she’d never actually claimed to have caused the turn around.

“You think that makes it okay?” Emma asked. 

Geri fell quiet. It was obvious to her now that Emma was still upset about yesterday. Well so was she but Geri needed the younger woman on side. “Is this about what you think I was going to say? I’m sure afterwards we could have anything edited out that we all weren’t completely happy with.” She assured.

“That’s hardly the point and you know it Geri.” Emma replied.

“I never brought Tate up at all, even later when I was speaking with John and Kyle, I never said a word.” Geri explained.

Emma shifted forward in her seat, annoyed that Geri still didn’t seem to get it. “I would hope so Geri, it’s not your place or anyone else’s so speak for my child, are we clear on that?”

Geri nodded. “Of course, if Bluebell was gay I’d want the same thing.”

Emma closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “Why are you here?”

Geri grinned, more than happy to get down to the needs of the group. “We have the Graham Norton show next week and I think we all have to get together before then and really talk about what we want out of it.”

Emma sighed. She already knew from talking with Melanie that the interview with Graham was unlikely to go ahead. At least with all four of them. “Go on then.” She told Geri, it was probably best to hear this before Melanie came down. 

“Okay, so as I was saying, we have another interview early next week, I think we need Melanie to be a bit more positive about this-“

Emma winced, there was no way this was going to end well.

xxxxxx

Melanie stared out her bedroom window, she’d finished her call with Elizabeth a while ago but she’d heard Mel’s distinctive voice from downstairs and it had made her turn back around.

She could hazard a guess as to why Mel was here, but if Mel was then Geri wasn’t likely to be far away. If she wasn’t already down there. Her talk with Elizabeth hadn’t had much focus, Melanie had just repeated things the other woman was already more than aware of.

Melanie was still afraid to be in a tour environment with the other girls. It didn’t matter that her own management was taking care of the tour plans, or that there was no record company people hanging around making sure they said and did all the right things, they had no one to answer to but each other. But maybe that was worse. They were all older now and given they'd already held a reunion tour she felt pressured into presenting a facade that everything was all okay between them, and that just wasn't true. They still had issues with each other, comments made in moments of anger and frustration, or when they were drunk. 

She was also grateful that for the last few years she was in control of her eating disorder, even when she spent extra time in the gym for her triathlon training, her relationship with food was almost normal now. She credits the pregnancy with her daughter for that. Her priority became making sure the child growing within her had everything it needed to be healthy, and in turn she knew that she could no longer deprive her own body of what it needed. Back in the days of a world wide tour or promotional interviews and shows, controlling her food intake and how much she exercised was one of the few choices she could make for herself within the group.

They may have preached that they decided everything themselves but that wasn't true. Even before they had got their first number one with Wannabe they had a schedule to keep to and for nearly two years it never stopped. There was always the next city to visit, the next show to be on, the next product to advertise and the next interview or performance to mime through. Melanie had hated that side of things most of all. She could sit there and let Mel and Geri run their mouths off to presenters but all she had ever dreamed of was being on stage, singing and dancing live for an audience. She hated faking it but management didn't want them risking sales if one or two of them weren't at their best every time.

She loved performing with Emma the few times that they had the opportunity to, and recording together had been just like the good times back in the day.

But being part of the group meant being one of four, even just for a few months that felt like a lot to give up. She’d been in complete control of her solo work during her last album, now she had to have the approval of three other people. And having to deal with Geri wanting to be centre of attention at everything they did was grating on her nerves already. Melanie had thought they'd all show a bit of maturity now that they all had children not use the reunion as an excuse to act like they were back in their heyday.

It didn’t matter that one of them was her partner whom she trusted completely. It didn’t keep her anxiety level any lower, all that meant was that Emma would be forced to play peacekeeper or be the go-between for Melanie, and she didn’t want to put that added pressure on her.

It was only November and the tour didn’t kick off until May of next year. It was ridiculous that Melanie was already having trouble dealing with being around the rest of the girls again. She’d spent time with all of them socially and yes they’d fallen out when she’d refused to be part of a reunion for the Wannabe anniversary but if she could survive 47 shows with them during the last reunion she should be able to cope with 13 concerts this time.

The Olympic Games performance in 2012 hardly counted because it was such a whirlwind from being asked so late to do it and then barely any rehearsal before they were backstage waiting to go on. And then it was over and she and Emma had taken their extended families off on holiday the very next day.

Now she was committed to being Sporty Spice once more. And there was a large part of her that was really looking forward to being up on stage again singing some of the most important songs of her life.

If it wasn’t for the Spice Girls she’d never have met Emma or have the life that she does. So the bad moments from that past were definitely overshadowed by the greatness in her life right now.

With a sigh and feeling more centred within herself as her thoughts kept drifting to Scarlet, Tate, and Beau she knew that she could put herself through a lot more than last night if it meant sharing this summer with those three pieces of her heart and getting to show them who she and Emma used to be back in the day.

The kids had seen Melanie perform her solo shows and they’d seen her sing with Emma but all they had from the Spice Girl days were a couple of tour DVDs and a ton of Youtube clips. This would be different. They would get to be back stage, to travel with them and maybe even be on stage with them at some point. And that was the kind of memory with the children that Melanie wanted for them, and for herself and Emma.

Blowing out a breath Melanie went to the door and headed for the stairs.

“I knew you were hiding up here!” Came Mel B’s voice from behind Melanie.

“What are you trying to do nutter, kill me?!” Melanie asked as she glared at her friend. She’d no idea the other woman with behind her in the hallway.

Mel grinned, placing her hands on her hips. “Well if you weren’t breaking the rules you wouldn’t be here. Ginge thought you two were going to play it cool for a few months.” She said with a grin. “But I knew you couldn’t do it, you bitches didn’t even last a week!” She teased gleefully.

Melanie made a face. “Piss off Mel, Geri’s the only one that gives a shit, the rest of the world hasn’t fucking cared.” It wasn’t like they hid their relationship behind closed doors, lots of people in the industry knew and Melanie suspected most of her fans had a good idea that they were together.

Mel snorted. “She really doesn’t have a leg to stand on telling you guys anything, not when she used to get her tits out for money.” Geri’s glamour modelling days had caused huge arguments within the group and their management at the time they became public knowledge, but they had weathered that storm relatively unscathed. A few articles in the tabloids, a few nasty comments by people who thought they had the right to judge anyone in the public eye and that was about it. They moved on with another single and another number 1.

“Too right.” Melanie agreed as she turned and started down the stairs.

“But just imagine the headlines if the press knew you were the one that corrupted Baby Spice back then.” Mel said with a smirk.

Melanie turned and eyed her friend. She knew Mel was only kidding around but being constantly called Dyke Spice and having her manager pull her aside a few times to warn her not to get too handsy with any of the others especially Emma who was the youngest and the big draw for most of their fanbase.

“Okay, first warning Mel, any more of it and I’m gonna sic Emma on you.” Melanie warned.

Mel chuckled and shook her hands. “So scared.” She replied.

“You should be.” Melanie said as she turned back around and headed for the voices in the kitchen. 

Geri was definitely in the house, her distinctive voice was hard to miss and it was getting louder the closer she and Mel got. But what made Melanie quicken her steps was the suddenly raised voice of Emma.

“What the hell is going on in here?” She demanded to know as she cut the pair off mid shouting match and walked to Emma's side, glaring at Geri who was sat at the kitchen island.

“Relax Melanie, we were just discussing last night.” Geri assured.

“Sounded like arguing Ginge.” Mel said as she headed to make herself another cup of coffee. 

Geri sighed. “I’ll admit, perhaps I could have chosen my words better, I’m sorry Emma, if I offended you.” She told the blonde then smiled at her and Melanie to show that she didn’t take Emma’s raised voice to heart.

Melanie shook her head and turned to Emma. “You okay?” She asked softly. She knew it didn’t take much for Geri’s mouth to run off and say something stupid, but she hated the idea of Emma having her feelings hurt, or worse, being angry in her defence.

Emma huffed out a breath. She was really angry that Geri wasn’t listening to her, but she didn’t want things to escalate into an all-out shouting match between all four of them. “Yeah.”

Melanie wasn’t at all convinced by that comment. She cupped Emma’s face and forced eye contact. “You sure?” She asked, watching Emma’s reaction closely.

“We were just being silly. Of course she’s fine.” Geri added, then rolled her eyes at Mel B as she sat down beside her.

Melanie however kept her eyes on Emma, waiting for her to respond. “I wasn’t asking you Geri.”

Emma took hold of Melanie’s hand and brought it to her lips, closing her eyes briefly as she pressed a kiss to the back of Melanie’s hand then held it to her chest. “I’m fine, really, Geri’s just very annoying when she doesn’t shut up and listen.”

Mel B burst out laughing at that.

“Oi, excuse me, I’m sitting right here.” Geri complained.

“Yeah,” Mel B said. “And you can be damn annoying when you don't shut up.”

Geri shook her head and decided just to move the conversation on. It was a lost cause bringing up the fact that Melanie was in the house and after Emma’s earlier comments she wasn’t even going to broach the subject of them keeping their distance until the shows were closer.

“Well seeing as we are all here, I think we need to have a conversation on our next interview.” Geri said.

Melanie felt Emma squeeze her hand, and that was the only reason she didn’t react to Geri’s little dig at her being in Emma’s home. Besides, she couldn’t help but grin over at Geri. “I was just about to send out a message to the group actually.” She said.

“Yeah?” Mel asked, between sips of her coffee. “About what?”

“I’ve cancelled the other few interviews we had set up.” She stated.

“Come again?” Mel asked, as her headache came thundering back. She felt a stab of panic that Melanie was about to tell them that she wasn’t going to do the shows anymore. And if Mel was completely honest she did need the money. Her divorce wasn’t settled and she had been sued by her ex-nanny. She'd be lucky to walk away with her kids and enough money to set up her back here once she was allowed to leave the States, she was waiting on a court judgement and the sale of her house to go through over there.

Geri tilted her head and waited quietly. She’d wait for all the facts before she rushed to her reply. But she did cross her arms, she wasn’t happy that Melanie had done whatever she had without first discussing it with the rest of them.

“I’m out, last night was more than enough for me, I’m not doing this again.” Melanie explained.

Emma took a deep breath to keep from tearing up and held on to Melanie’s hand as tightly as she could. She wasn’t sure what Melanie was going to say right now, but she’d back her up all the way with whatever she needed.

Mel slapped her hands down onto the worktop. “I knew you’d fuck this up Ginge!”

“Me?” Geri questioned, her eyes wide. “What did I do?”

“What didn’t you do?” Mel snapped back at her. “Fuck, you were climbing all over Melanie trying to get her to sing that stupid song. It’s not even ours for fuck sake.” Years. Mel had spent years dreaming of being back out there with these women again. And in less than a week it was already all falling apart. 

Mel stared at Melanie, she had a level of sympathy for the other woman, she knew first hand that the Spice days weren’t the easiest for her. In fact Mel was responsible for a good deal of that hurt herself, going as far back to the days they all shared a house together. She’d openly question Melanie’s sexuality and tease her about being the gay one when in fact she’d been shagging Geri on and off for years. She’d often kick Melanie out of the room they shared telling her to go sleep on the couch, and not even feel embarrassed about it.

When Mel and Geri were getting on well they’d take centre stage during interviews and always back each other up, so they got to boss the other girls around a bit and got away with it because the public loved seeing them go a bit wild during interviews.

But when things were bad between them Mel often took it out on Melanie even when the other girl was only trying to be a friend. Especially if they'd been drinking, a few times they’d even come to physical blows, with the other girls having to try and separate them.

Of course she’d apologised several times since those days and even in her first book when the pair weren’t even friends anymore, she'd let everyone know she was sorry for how she treated Melanie.

“Well that’s it then,” Mel said into the silence around her. “Tour’s over. No one is coming to hear the three of us sing.” The press would have a field day once this broke. They’d be lucky if the fans ever forgave them.

Melanie shook her head and reached across the counter top to place her hand on Mel’s. “Woah, like take a breath and calm the fuck down nutter. I never said I wasn’t going on tour.”

“Oh, thank god.” Emma literally sagged with relief, wrapping herself around Melanie. “Don’t do that to me, I was right there with Mel, planning our please forgive us announcement to the fans.”

Melanie chuckled. “Bunch of fucking drama queens the pair of you.” She muttered. But she smiled at Mel and jiggled her hand, which she was still holding. 

“Look, I’m going to be honest,” She said releasing Mel and putting her arms around Emma instead. She then stared between Mel and Geri. “I can’t deal with more Spice Girl interviews, I don’t know what I expected after all these years but it’s still just the same level of crazy it always was.” She went on with a smile.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Mel said softly.

“It is.” Melanie replied, only to hear Geri snort. “I’ve just spent most of this morning trying to deal with my anxiety and in the end I had to talk with my therapist. So yeah, Geri, I’m not putting your need to be the centre of attention above my own health needs.” She explained.

Geri looked across at Emma. “And how do you feel about that Emma?”

“What kinda question is that?” Mel B asked Geri. “Give over, of course Emma’s going to do whatever Melanie needs, and for the record so are we.” She said with a pointed look towards Ginger Spice.

Melanie smiled when she felt lips press against her neck. Emma obviously liked that Mel had stood up for her on this. Melanie was pleased with the support as well. “Hang on, all I’m saying is that we won’t being doing interviews with all four of us, you three can doing as many radio and TV interviews you want.”

Mel shook her head. She was headed back to the States soon and they’d only booked another few pressers. “I’m not fussed.” She’d line up a couple of US interviews while she was back there anyway.

“It’s a little disappointing that we can’t give more back to the fans.” Geri said, sounding unhappy with the idea. “But if that’s your decision.”

“It is.” Melanie answered, not at all concerned with Geri’s thoughts on the matter. She wasn’t making it up, she had struggled emotionally after the interview, she’d been close to walking off stage when the video from 1994 had been played on screen. It wasn’t just about Geri playing up for the camera, Melanie still had issues from her whole experience of becoming a member of the biggest selling girl group of all time.

It sounds crazy, especially when you factored in how little time it took from their first single being release to them completely dominating the world of pop music for a couple of years.

But as exciting and wonderful as it was to look back on now, it had left scars, and painful memories that for Melanie weren’t likely to ever completely heal.

“Then I guess that’s that.” Geri replied.

Mel shook her head. “We’ll all be back rehearing after Christmas don’t forget.” She said. “Not sure that’s going to be enough time for Ginger here as it is. Maybe some of us should get back into the dance studio sooner rather than later.”

Emma lifted her head from Melanie’s shoulder. “It shouldn’t be too hard, we’re using all the old dance moves.”

Mel snorted. “You didn’t see this one trying to dance last night.” She said pointing her thumb towards Geri. Then she laughed and pulled out her phone. “Ha, I just remembered I filmed some of it, come ‘round here and I’ll show you.” She told Emma.

“Don’t you dare!” Geri said trying to snatch Mel’s phone out of her hand.

Melanie watched on as Emma scurried around to see what Mel had captured of last night while Geri tried to keep her hands over the screen. She was happy enough that the others weren’t fighting her harder on this. They weren’t promoting new music or even their old music, they were putting on the shows for their fans to come along and enjoy their past hits together. 

That would be enough giving back, and maybe it would finally be her chance to say a proper thank you and goodbye to Sporty.

She’d wait and see.


End file.
